Christian leaders in Malaysia
are sounding off against the government’s latest detention of imported
scriptures, reporting that some 30,000 were recently being held.
The Christian Federation of Malaysia – which comprises the nation’s
largest ecumenical, Evangelical, and Roman Catholic Christian bodies –
announced Thursday that it is “greatly disillusioned, fed-up and angered
by the repeated detention of Bibles written in our national language,
Bahasa Malaysia”.
“Since March 2009, all attempts to import the Bible in Bahasa
Malaysia ie the Alkitab, whether through Port Klang or the Port of
Kuching, have been thwarted,” the umbrella organisation stated,
suggesting that the detentions are linked to the widely-publicised 2009
row over the translation of “God” in Bibles and other Christian
publications.
In Malaysia, Christian publications were not allowed to use the word
“Allah” to refer to God.
The government contends the word “Allah” is
exclusively for Islam and that the use of “Allah” in Christian
publications could confuse Muslims and make Christian ideas more
appealing to them.
Church officials, however, argue that Allah is not exclusive to Islam
because it is an Arabic word that existed before the religion. They say
"Allah" has been used for centuries to mean "God" in Malay.
On December 31, 2009, two years after a lawsuit was filed against the
government over its “Allah” ban, a Supreme Court judge agreed with
members of the Malaysian Church, declaring that the word “Allah” is not
exclusive to Islam and that the government’s Home Ministry is “not
empowered” to ban non-Muslims from using the word.
Since then, the Malaysian government – though still committed to its
“Allah” stance – has given the assurance that the Bible in the Bahasa
Malaysia language would be freely available, at least in the country’s
largest two states – Sabah and Sarawak.
But CFM claimed Thursday that 30,000 copies of the "Perjanjian Baru,
Mazmur dan Amsal" – the "New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs" – are
currently being withheld at the Port of Kuching in Sarawak.
Furthermore, 5,000 copies of the Bible in Bahasa Malaysia – the
Alkitab – have been held by the Ministry of Home Affairs in Port Klang
since March 2009.
“This is despite repeated appeals which resulted in the Prime
Minister making a decision to release the Alkitab held in Port Klang in
December 2009 which was reported to CFM leaders by several Cabinet
Ministers and their aides,” noted the CFM Executive Committee in its
statement Thursday.
Notably, the Malaysian Home Ministry has rejected CFM’s claims of the
Bibles detention in Port Klang. On Wednesday, the ministry said the
Bibles had actually been refused entry into Malaysia for not fulfilling
the ministry's requirements. Furthermore, it claimed that a letter of
refusal dated June 26, 2010, was sent to the importer of the Bibles.
The importer, however, had yet to claim the cargo, the ministry
reported, according to Bernama, a news agency of the Malaysian
government.
Hence, it added, allegations by the National Evangelical Christian
Fellowship that the ministry had confiscated and detained the Bibles
were inaccurate and misleading. NECF is one of the bodies that comprise
CFM.
Despite the ministry’s claims, CFM maintained Thursday that “tedious
steps” have been taken after each incident to secure the release of the
Bibles and that “nothing has been done by the authorities to ensure
their release”.
“It would appear as if the authorities are waging a continuous,
surreptitious and systematic programme against Christians in Malaysia to
deny them access to the Bible in Bahasa Malaysia,” CFM declared.
In closing, CFM insisted that access to Bibles in Bahasa is essential
for Malaysian Christians – many of whom have grown up with Bahasa
Malaysia as their principal medium of communication as a result of the
government's education policies – in order to read, comprehend and
practice their faith.
“It is an affront to them that they are being deprived of their sacred Scriptures,” the Christian umbrella group added.
“We call upon the Government to act now and prove their sincerity and
integrity in dealing with the Malaysian Christian community on this and
all other issues which we have been raising with them since the
formation of the Christian Federation of Malaysia in 1985. As an
immediate step, we insist upon the immediate release of all Bibles which
have been detained,” CFM concluded.
According to the CIA World Factbook, 60.4 per cent of Malaysia's 25.7
million people ascribe to Islam.
Around 19.2 per cent, meanwhile, is
Buddhist, and 9.1 per cent is Christian.
In general, Muslims enjoy special privileges in Malaysia as Islam is the dominant religion.